Common Buckeye Butterfly - David Mathre Photography

Wednesday (02-October-2019) — New Jersey

Autumn Backyard Nature in New Jersey.

Daily walkabout with a Fuji X-T2 camera and 100-400 mm OIS lens. It was very hot and a bit windy. The wildflower meadow with Marigold flowers was still filled with Monarch, Painted Lady, and Common Buckeye butterflies. The deer don’t like Marigolds. The temperature is supposed to drop forty degrees and rain tomorrow. We will see how many butterflies are still around then. The Monarch butterflies should be leaving for Mexico pretty soon.

Individual images from the slideshows can be viewed here.

Daily Electric Energy Used (65.8 kWh) from Sense and Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (41.3 kWh) from SolSystems and Locus Energy. More sun and very hot outside. The Geothermal HVAC used 14.1 kWh for cooling. The new hydroponic gardens used 8.7 kWh. Overall a net deficit of 24.5 kWh.

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Tuesday (01-October-2019) — New Jersey

Autumn Backyard Nature in New Jersey.

Daily walkabout with a Fuji X-T3 camera and 200 mm f/2 lens. There must have been a hundred Monarch butterflies feeding in my wildflower meadows today. The Monarch butterflies were feeding on Cosmos, Zinnia, Mexican Sunflower, and Marigold flowers. At least one Monarch butterfly was caught, probably by a Praying Mantis. All that was left were the wings on the ground. The Painted Lady butterflies liked the Marigold and Lemon Mint flowers.

Click on the above image to access my PhotoShelter gallery with the individual images in the following slideshow.

Daily Electric Energy Used (54.3 kWh) from Sense and Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (41.6 kWh) from SolSystems and Locus Energy. More sun in the afternoon and warmer out. The Geothermal HVAC used 6.1 kWh for cooling. The new hydroponic gardens used 8.7 kWh. Overall a net deficit of 12.7 kWh.

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Saturday (28-September-2019) — New Jersey

Autumn Backyard Nature in New Jersey.

My initial walkabout was with a Nikon D850 camera and 200-500 mm VR lens. I almost walked into a large spider web with a big spider. Probably some type of Orb-web Builder spider. As with yesterday, there were lots and lots of Monarch butterflies in my wildflower meadows. They were feeding on Cosmos, Zinnia, and Marigold flowers. I also captured images of two Common Buckeye butterflies. When going back in I found the Praying Mantis that I spotted in an image yesterday. Its belly was pretty full, so it has been successful capturing some meals recently. I can only wish it has been feeding on the Stink Bugs that have been trying to get into my house recently as the temperatures cool outside. I took some images with the Nikon D850 camera, then swapped to a Fuji X-H1 camera and 80 mm f/2.8 macro lens + 1.4x teleconverter.

Hairy Spider hanging out. Image taken with a Nikon D850 camera and 200-500 mm VR lens. (DAVID J MATHRE) — Hairy Spider hainging out. Image taken with a Nikon D850 camera and 200-500 mm VR lens. (DAVID J MATHRE)

Click on the image above to access my PhotoShelter gallery with the individual images from the following slideshow.

Daily Electric Energy Used (56.5 kWh) from Sense and Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (37.3 kWh) from SolSystems and Locus Energy. Cloudy most of the day (with the Sycamore tree blocking the solar panels in the afternoon). The Geothermal HVAC system used (10 kWh) and the new indoor hydroponic systems running (8.7 kWh). An overall net deficit of 19.2 kWh.

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Thursday (01-August-2019) — New Jersey

Backyard Summertime Nature in New Jersey.

From the three underused cameras yesterday, I narrowed it down to one — Leica CL with a 55-135 mm zoom lens. More Sunflower, Butterfly, and Snowberry Clearwing Moths. I also captured some images of a Goldfinch feeding on a Sunflower. The Goldfinch have graduated from the Cornflowers to something with larger seeds. My favoriate image of the day is the first one shown — two Tiger Swallowtail Butterflies, one in focus and the other out of focus.

Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly. Image taken with a Leica CL camera and 55-135 mm lens (DAVID J MATHRE) — Two Tiger Swallowtail Butterflies. Image taken with a Leica CL camera and 55-135 mm lens (ISO 100, 135 mm, f/8, 1/400 sec). (DAVID J MATHRE)

Sunflowers. Click on the above image to access the individual images from the slideshow at my Photoshelter Gallery.

Tiger Swallowtail, Common Buckeye, and Silver-spotted Skipper Butterflies. Click on the above image to access the individual images from the slideshow at my Photoshelter Gallery.

Snowberry Clearwing (Hummingbird) Moth. Click on the above image to access the individual images from the slideshow at my Photoshelter Gallery.

Goldfinch feeding on Sunflower seeds. Click on the above image to access the individual images from the slideshow at my Photoshelter Gallery.

Daily Electric Energy Used (est. 52 kWh) from Sense and Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (64.8 kWh) from SolSystems and Locus Energy. The amount used is an estimate because of some technical problems with the Sense monitor. Not as cloudy so solar energy production was up 24 kWh for an estimated net surplus of 13 kWh.

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Wednesday (31-July-2019) — New Jersey

Backyard Summertime Nature in New Jersey.

I decided to take some cameras out that I haven’t been using much. Looking at the images I can see I need to spend more time using and practicing with theses cameras. Some of the images are not tack sharp. I can’t just use the cameras in auto mode, need to slow down and make sure I have the settings right. The large sunflowers next to the house were up to the roof edge, but got so heavy they bent over. The field of sunflowers in the back wildflower meadow are attracting lots of bees and butterflies.

Sunflowers. Image taken with a Leica T camera and 18 mm f/2.8 lens (DAVID J MATHRE)

Leica T camera and 60 mm f/2.8 lens. Click on the above image to access the individual images in my Photoshelter Gallery.

Leica TL2 camera and 35 mm f/1.4 lens. Click on the above image to access the individual images in my Photoshelter Gallery.

Sunflowers. Image taken with a Leica CL camera and 23 mm f/2 lens (DAVID J MATHRE)

Tiger Swallowtail. Image taken with a Leica CL camera and 23 mm f/2 lens (DAVID J MATHRE)

Daily Electric Energy Used (49.7 kWh) from Sense and Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (41.1 kWh) from SolSystems and Locus Energy. Cloudy most of the day so solar energy production was down 32 kWh. A bit cooler so the Geothermal HVAC system didn’t have to work as hard so the overall energy used was down nearly 20 kWh, for a net deficit of 8.6 kWh. The monthly stats for July are electric energy used: 1841 kWh, solar energy generated: 2075 kWh, for a monthly electric energy surplus of 234 kWh.